The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1887-10-17
An OBSERVATION In the West.

Mr.. Chauncey M. Depew has been travel
ing in the West with the wide open eyes of
a practical business man, who is at the head
of one of the largest railway systems in the
country. His observations are interesting
therefore, and worthy of attention, especial
ly since he has coupled them with prophesies
The real estate boon" in the West first at
tracted his attention, though undoubtedly he,
like every one else in the East, had heard gold
en- accounts Of it before he left home. While
the solid prosperity Of the West Is phenome-
nal, the faith in the immediate future of real
estate there amounts. in Mr.. Depew's judy
ment, to craze. II found it avery COM
mon thing" says he, ''to hear men ask, and
see apparently sensible men pay, 500 and
more for town lots situated in corn field or
on hilltop one and two miles from the bust
ness centre of the town and which will in
all human probability be suburban property
for the next 20 years, fit only for agricultural
or grazing purposes. These lots are proba-
bly, intrinsically worth from $35 to $50 per
acre." The railroad mileage completed this
year has also been greatly In excess of the
actual demand, five thousand miles in excess
in Mr.. Depew's judgment. These new rail-
roads have thus absorbed millions of actual
cash, upon which for years to come there can
probably be no adequate per centage of re-
turns. So far as real estate is concerned
Mr.. Depew is represented as taking a view
even more gloomy. 1.-THE investors in these
real estate ventures" he says, pay from 25
to 30 per cent, of the purchase price in cash
and secure the deferred payments by mort
gage, and when the crash comes the cash pay
ments will be swept away by depreciation in
values, leaving the holder of the mortgage
the property as his only security, which will
prove to lack about 80 per cent of being
enough to liquidate his claim" 1t is not
probably, to be understood that anything
more than real estate around cities and towns
that are growing, or are thought to be grow
Ing is included in this prophecy. The farm
Ing lands of the West, in which so many
eastern investors hold claims, would natu-
rally be far less susceptible to such an UNI
healthy stimulation of values, than the lots
around cities that are experiencing ''booms,"
These blooms" recall to Mr.. Depew's mind
the real estate speculations during the periods
of 1887 and 1S57,-periods that will always
be memorable for their great financial panics.
In railroad building the present period of
extravagant construction has been compared
to the period preceding the panic of 1872,
when money was tied up and credit unsus-
pectingly enlarged with most deplorable re-
suits. But it is when unexpected that f.
nancal panic usually comes. As the New
York Post says: "All preparations, indiyid-
ual and corporate, to meet panic tend to
avert 1t. 1t Is safe conclusion that there is
no general disaster coming now, or while the
public mind remains in its present temper.
But we may look for individual disasters in
the quarter where Mr.. Depew has been trav-
cling, and we must not be surprised when
they come"